Quantum-Dot Light-Emitting Diodes Exhibiting Narrow-Spectrum Green Electroluminescence by Using Ag-In-Ga-S/GaSx Quantum Dots.

Quantum dots (QDs), which have high color purity, are expected to be applied as emitting materials to wide-color-gamut displays. To enable their use as an alternative to Cd-based QDs, it is necessary to improve the properties of QDs composed of low-toxicity materials. Although multielement QDs such as Ag-In-Ga-S are prone to spectrally broad emission from defect sites, a core/shell structure covered with a GaSx shell is expected to enable sharp emission from band-edge transitions. Here, QD light-emitting diodes (QD-LEDs) embedded with Ag-In-Ga-S/GaSx core/shell QDs (AIGS QDs) were fabricated, and their electroluminescence (EL) was observed. The EL spectra from the AIGS QD-LEDs were found to contain a large defect-related emission component not observed in the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the AIGS QD films. This defect-related emission was caused by electrons injected into defect sites in the QDs. Therefore, the AIGS QDs and the electron injection layer (EIL) of ZnMgO were treated with Ga compounds such as gallium chloride (GaCl3) and gallium tris(N,N'-diethyldithiocarbamate) (Ga(DDTC)3) to improve the luminescence properties of the QD-LEDs. The added Ga compounds effectively compensated for defect sites on the surface of the QDs and suppressed direct electron injection from the EIL into defect sites. As a result, the defect-related emission components in the EL were successfully suppressed, and the EL exhibited a color purity comparable to the PL of the AIGS QD films. The QD-LEDs exhibited EL spectra with a full width at half-maximum of 33 nm, which is extremely sharp for a low-toxicity QD, and the chromaticity coordinates (0.260, 0.695) for green EL were achieved.

Long-Lived Flexible Displays Employing Efficient and Stable Inverted Organic Light-Emitting Diodes.

Although organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are promising for use in applications such as in flexible displays, reports of long-lived flexible OLED-based devices are limited due to the poor environmental stability of OLEDs. Flexible substrates such as plastic allow ambient oxygen and moisture to permeate into devices, which degrades the alkali metals used for the electron-injection layer in conventional OLEDs (cOLEDs). Here, the fabrication of a long-lived flexible display is reported using efficient and stable inverted OLEDs (iOLEDs), in which electrons can be effectively injected without the use of alkali metals. The flexible display employing iOLEDs can emit light for over 1 year with simplified encapsulation, whereas a flexible display employing cOLEDs exhibits almost no luminescence after only 21 d with the same encapsulation. These results demonstrate the great potential of iOLEDs to replace cOLEDs employing alkali metals for use in a wide variety of flexible organic optoelectronic devices.

Phosphorescent iridium complexes based on 2-phenylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine ligands: tuning of emission color toward the blue region and application to polymer light-emitting devices.

A series of new blue-phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes 1-14 with ligands of 2-phenylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine (pip) derivatives were successfully prepared, and their electrochemical, photophysical, and electroluminescent (EL) properties were systematically investigated. It was found that the emission maxima are significantly dependent on the substituents on the phenyl ring in the range of 489-550 nm. For instance, electron-withdrawing groups such as F and CF3 shift the emission maxima to shorter wavelengths by lowering the HOMO levels (complexes 4-8), whereas the extended pi-conjugation leads to bathochromic shifts (2, 3). To obtain further information about the frontier orbital, substitution effects on the imidazole part were also investigated here, and it was found that electron-withdrawing or -donating substituents on the imidazole ring affected the emission maxima (9, 557 nm; 10, 525 nm). These results including their oxidation potentials suggest that the HOMO of the pip-based complex is a mixture of Ir-d, phenyl-pi, and imidazole-pi orbitals. From this viewpoint, combination of electron-withdrawing substituents on the phenyl ring with the use of another ancillary ligand enabled further blue shifts (13, 468, 499 nm; 14, 464, 494 nm). This new system based on pip is one of the rare examples of iridium complexes whose emissions can be tuned to the blue region. Preliminary polymer light-emitting devices (PLEDs) employing the Ir complexes were fabricated, and the devices showed moderate EL efficiencies.